paradise by the uv light

[kevinkk]

Last night I caught what I'm assuming are some Coloradia pandora.
I left them overnight in the light trap I use, and this morning they
were copulating.
I was unaware that females would fly to a light source before
being fertilized.
There isn't anything in my copy of Wild Silkmoths of North America about
pandora mating, just the difficulty rearing them because of the 2 year
life cycle.
So- is she a fertilized female that mated a 2nd time? Or a virgin female that flew to the light?

[Chuck]

Many Saturnid females will come to lights (at low frequency compared to males) and mate for the first time, I'd think pandora would be the same. I personally have never had a Saturnid female mate twice.

[mothman55]

I have never known a saturnid female to come to my light that hadn't mated yet. Never had a female at the light that didn't lay gravid ova. Of course I don't rear from every female that shows up at the light, but all that I have, the ova have always hatched. My understanding is that priority one is mating, and newly emerged saturniid females will stay put and call for a male. If unsuccessful on night one, they generally stay and try calling again a second night. If still unsuccessful, they will often relocate or possibly fly to a light.

[kevinkk]

Thanks for the input.
I have had Antherae pernyi mate twice, although it was with the same male, the same evening.

[adamcotton]

Luckily male Saturniidae don't have to wait long for the End of Time.

Adam.

[Panacanthus]

Luckily male Saturniidae don't have to wait long for the End of Time.

Adam.

Very good Adam! I was wondering if anyone else got the “connection” in the title!

[adamcotton]

Showing my age

I'm at the "Will you still need me, will you still feed me" age.

(Luckily this thread is in The Porch Light)

Adam.

PS. My avatar photo was taken maybe 14 years ago.

[kevinkk]

Luckily male Saturniidae don't have to wait long for the End of Time.

Adam.

Very good Adam! I was wondering if anyone else got the “connection” in the title!

I know! Your "cool" factor just raised considerably. Bat out of Hell was such a classic album, and Meatloaf was great on stage.
I didn't want to hijack that nice thread about the white witch moths.
For all the problems this species may cause, they were interesting moths in any event.

[kevinkk]

so, that was fun, but I should follow up on the topic.

I think it was a gravid female that flew to the light and mated a 2nd time with the male that was also attracted to the uv light.
How that happened is anyone's guess.
This conclusion because the female laid only about 25 eggs on the second night after being captured, and expired the following
evening without laying anymore. There is no way this species could reach plague numbers if females are laying only 2 dozen eggs .
There were other moths that I wasn't able to capture flying around the light, so I don't think it was an older female that hadn't
mated .

Another interesting thing, I probably over reacted, but when the female became active the evening she laid eggs, she flew around the flight cage
for sometime without laying, normally I put moths in a paper sack, so all I hear is the flapping, but I went and cut a pine branch
to put in the cage, and that's where she laid her eggs, on the needles in a group.